Their Little House Colter (Five Little Roommates #1)

Chapter Nineteen

Colter

“Do I need to bring draggy?” I plopped on Dallas’ bed, clutching my dragon friend. “I feel like I need to bring my stuffie—but if I do, and he planned for us to use his toys, that would be rude. So maybe I shouldn’t bring him. What do you think?”

He climbed onto the bed beside me and ran his fingers through my hair. “I think, my sweet little friend, that you are worrying too much. Tonight is supposed to be a fun playdate at Daddy Ari’s. It’s not supposed to be stressful.”

He took my dragon from me. “What do you think, Draggy? Do you want to come with us to Daddy’s house?” He pushed the stuffed dragon’s head down in a nod. “There you go. That settles that. Stick him in your backpack.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“Because you’re making it far more difficult than it needs to be.” He kissed my cheek and sat up. “Now hurry up! We gotta get going. We don’t want to be late for mac and cheese and chicken nuggies, do we?”

“No.” I wanted to be there already. “Why do you have to be so smart?”

“One of us has to be.” He stuck his tongue out.

I grabbed my bag, and the two of us headed to Daddy’s house. It was our first time going there, and our first time having little time with him that was just us. It was great playing at the club or even being together at our place, but this alone time was important. It would take the pressure of the outside away and let us focus on what our time together would look like for us.

Ari greeted us at the door. “Dinner’s almost ready,” he said.

Then he did something I wasn’t expecting. I don’t know why I hadn’t considered it—it made sense—but it was still surprising: He asked us to get ready without him.

“Why don’t you two go to the first door on the right and start getting ready? I’ll come get you when dinner’s done.”

I sort of expected that he would want to get us ready, that he would take care of dressing us. But also, we were still so new. So, maybe that was why?

Dallas’ hand slid into mine. “We got it. Dinner smells great.”

“Well, I hope it tastes great, too.”

He gave us each a kiss then walked back to the kitchen while we headed to the bedroom that felt like one for when Mom came to visit rather than everyday use. I helped Dallas, and he did the same for me. It was different than at the club, where we sort of got changed in tandem. It was more intimate, and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.

I mean, being naked around Dallas was a dream, right? But it was also like we were on the same team, working together.

And, once again, I was overthinking things.

“I don’t think you should wear your sneakers in the house.”

Dallas reached into his backpack and pulled out a pair of slippers. “Put these on.” He did something to them and suddenly they were flickering—like they were filled with fairy lights.

“You got those for me?”

He grinned. “Let’s go eat, and then we can play with Daddy.”

They fit perfectly.

Ari was in the kitchen, dishing up divided plates with macaroni and cheese—the kind from the box, which was my favorite—and chicken nuggies. They weren’t the ones Dallas liked. These were shaped like dinosaurs. But then again, Daddy wouldn’t have known that he loved the heart-shaped ones best, nor would he have thought to buy them before they were all gone.

Ari also had little sprigs of broccoli with ranch dressing on the dishes. He gave us trees—to eat. This was one little who was happy to avoid all things green. Except lollipops. Green was fine for those.

Dallas sat down at one of the placemats—the one in front of him covered with images of dinosaurs. “I’m ready to eat.”

I took the other seat. My placemat had farm animals covering it.

“Okay, be sure to eat your broccoli,” Ari said, pointing to the trees in front of us. “They’re good for you. And I made them small, so if you use enough ranch, you might not even taste them.”

Dallas giggled. “How’d you know?”

“Daddies know.”

The three of us ate until we were full and ready to move on to the play portion of the night. But before we did, Ari went to the fridge and grabbed two sippy cups. “These are for you two.” They were covered with ducks that matched Dallas’ hat and one had my name on it and the other Dallas’.

“I know you guys like to be twinsies.”

“I really do!” I snatched mine from him. “Twinsies are the best!”

We went into the living room, where he had some coloring books, some Duplo blocks, and a basket of stuffies.

“I wasn’t sure what you’d want to play with today. I thought this could be a start, and if you think of things for next time, we can make sure I have those too.”

“I’ve got something!” I ran to the other room, grabbed my dragon, and came back out. “I got Draggy!” I plopped in front of the coffee table.

“I see that. Did you want a stuffie to hug too?” he asked Dallas, who nodded and snatched a stuffie from the basket.

We colored first then built some blocks. Then, when Daddy said we hadn’t been drinking our milk enough, we piled onto the couch together and watched a cartoon, happily sipping away.

It was fun and adorable, and I loved every minute of it.

But also…snuggling up with Dallas and Daddy was making me quite hard, and it was getting more difficult to ignore by the minute.